(This is CNBC Pro’s live coverage of Friday’s analyst calls and Wall Street chatter. Please refresh every 20-30 minutes to view the latest posts.) Chipmakers were in focus among analyst chatter early Friday. UBS raised its rating on Texas Instruments, noting it expects a better for the stock going forward. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo called Nvidia the winner from Meta Platforms’ AI spending push. Check out the latest calls and chatter below. All times ET. 7:03 a.m.: 2024 is the ‘Year of the Temu’, Bernstein says Bernstein reiterated PDD Holdings as its top Chinese internet stock pick for the new quarter while shouting out its increasingly popular e-commerce brand. Analyst Robin Zhu raised his price target on U.S. shares of the Chinese company by $10 to $180, now implying an upside of 26.7% over Thursday’s close. He also has an outperform rating on the stock. Zhu called 2024 the “Year of the Temu,” a reference to PDD’s online marketplace. He said Temu continues to grow above expectations in China and can outperform Wall Street estimates for 2024. The analyst said there’s a case to make for expecting more upside to shares in the new year, even after the stock climbed more than 79% in 2023. To be sure, shares have pulled back almost 3% in the new year. “Even amid a challenging environment for China top-down, we don’t think it’s ambitious to call for PDD valuation to go from a low teens multiple of domestic 2024E profits to a similar multiple of 2025E profit,” Zhu wrote to clients. When looking at Temu specifically, Zhu said 2024 can be the year the business “grows beyond brown envelopes sent via air” and expands in new markets. But Zhu said aggregate user subsidy levels should fall as markets mature. And the analyst said he may reexamine Temu’s valuation if quarterly losses peak or if embattled retailer Shein goes public. — Alex Harring 6:59 a.m.: Loop Capital hikes Netflix price target, says ‘dominance is becoming even clearer’ Loop Capital sees even more upside ahead for Netflix as its leadership in the streaming space crystalizes. Managing director Alan Gould raised his price target by $35 to $535, now reflecting the potential for shares to rally 10.2% from where they ended Thursday’s session. Gould also reiterated his buy rating on the streaming giant. “The rationalization of the streaming industry is starting and NFLX’s dominance is becoming even clearer,” he wrote to clients Friday. “As the traditional studios pivot their strategy from profit to growth, not only is the competition raising subscription prices and reducing content spend, but they are again licensing content to NFLX — even DIS and HBO.” Gould noted the stock’s recent outperformance, with Netflix shares up about 42% from the company’s last earnings report. By comparison, the Magnificent 7 and S & P 500 have climbed around 7% and 11%, respectively, in the same period. Looking ahead, Gould said that the fourth quarter should be the first since 2021 that Netflix reports double-digital revenue growth, a feat he said is largely due to subscriber gains instead of an increase in annual revenue per user. This comes as Netflix has cracked down on password sharing. Gould is also expecting strong guidance for the first quarter, citing quality shows. “We continue to recommend NFLX despite the strong stock move,” he said. That’s because of “our view that the competitive environment is improving, consolidation should eliminate some competition, and these factors should lead to upside bias in future estimates.” Gould is more bullish than many on Wall Street, as the average price target of analysts polled by LSEG is $484.42. The highest price target for Netflix is $600, per LSEG. — Alex Harring 6:50 a.m.: Near-term upside hindered for Hertz by EV repair and depreciation challenges, Jefferies says Troubles with electric vehicles is just one of many challenges for Hertz , according to Jefferies. Analyst Harold Antor downgraded the stock to hold from buy and slashed his price target by $4 to $8. Antor’s new target price implies a downside of 11%, while his old forecast reflected an upside of 33.5%. “EV repair issues, higher opex and DPU will limit near-term profitability,” he wrote to clients, using acronyms for electric vehicle and depreciation per unit. “Given the remediation of these issues are neither simple nor quick, we don’t have a ton of conviction in even our reduced 2024 EBTIDA estimate, limiting near-term upside.” Antor lowered his 2024 EBITDA estimate by 35% to around $500 million. While he said that valuation appears cheap for the stock, he has “limited confidence” in estimates for 2024 and 2025 after two consecutive quarters of major misses to Wall Street expectations There’s also a “lack of visibility” on when elevated expenses tied to electric vehicles, operating expenditures and depreciation will start moderating, the analyst added. Notably, the company announced earlier this month that it would sell about one third of its electric vehicle fleet amid a strategy shift. He said 2024 will be a “transition year” for the company as it battles headwinds. Shares slipped 1.5% before the bell on Friday. The stock has dropped about 13.5% in January, taking another leg down after tumbling 32.5% in 2023. — Alex Harring 6:06 a.m.: HSBC becomes less bullish on Discover as earnings forecast sours HSBC moved to the sidelines on Discover as the earnings outlook became less optimistic. Saul Martinez, the firm’s head of U.S. financials research, downgraded the bank to hold from buy and cut his price target by $14 to $107. Martinez’s new target reflects the potential for upside of 10.3%, down from 24.7% with the previously expected level. His downgrade came Thursday, when Discover posted $1.54 in GAAP EPS, down from $3.74 a year prior. Discover’s stock finished the session down more than 10%. Following the report, Martinez reduced his 2024 and 2024 forecasts for EPS by 9% and 15%, respectively. He anticipates deterioration in the loan growth outlook that should weigh on net interest income, while also noting that credit losses should peak in the first half of 2024 at a high rate. “The reductions largely reflect a softer outlook for loan growth, driving a sharp reduction to our net interest income (NII) estimates,” he said. “We also expect much higher net charge offs (NCOs) and some uncertainty persists about the extent to which compliance and risk costs pressure total expenses.” Ultimately, he said the new rating reflects a challenging environment with slower loan growth, higher credit losses and increasing expense levels. But he noted the sale of Discover’s student loan portfolio, a return to share buybacks and the eventual easing of credit pressures can all help the stock. — Alex Harring 5:42 a.m.: Buy DraftKings amid correction, Stifel says Stifel doesn’t want investors to miss an ongoing opportunity to buy into DraftKings . Analyst Jeffrey Stantial upgrade the sports betting stock to buy from hold and raised his price target by $5 to $45. Stantial’s new price target implies shares can jump 19.9% over the next year from Thursday’s close. While admitting others may not agree, Stantial said to take advantage of a slight pullback from the late 2023 highs. With near-term headwinds such as seasonality as ESPNBet promotions fading, he said investors can now focus attention on fundamentals such as healthy same-state growth rates, marketing and promotional discipline and efficiencies in fixed costs. Taken together, he said these fundaments can drive up what he deemed an “already impressive” path for guided EBITDA. “Our timing here is not without controversy, as we approach a potential hold-driven Q4 miss & Flutter U.S. listing,” he wrote to clients. “However, we prefer to own into forthcoming market share stabilization/inflection vs. waiting to de-risk these catalysts, while valuation appears attractive on our fine-tuned estimates.” Shares popped 1.6% in Friday premarket trading following Stantial’s Thursday upgrade. Despite the recent correction, the stock has gained about 6.5% since the start of 2024. That builds on 2023’s rally of more than 200%. DKNG 1Y mountain DKNG in past year — Alex Harring 5:37 a.m.: Wells Fargo calls Nvidia ‘clear beneficiary’ of Meta’s AI push Artificial intelligence darling Nvidia got another feather in its cap after Wells Fargo donned it a winner of Meta’s push into the technology. Analyst Aaron Rakers called Nvidia “the clear beneficiary” following a Thursday video update from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the Facebook parent’s use of AI. During the call, Zuckerberg shared plans to have about 350,000 H100 graphics processing units, which Nvidia makes, by the end of 2024. Alternatively, he said the fellow Big Tech company could seek around 600,000 equivalent processors to the H100. Zuckerberg’s update comes as Nvidia, a member of the “Magnificent 7,” continues to rally. Shares have climbed more than 15% so far in January, extending gains after surging almost 239% in 2023. More broadly, he called the Meta chief’s update a sign of “continued positive validation that the AI infrastructure buildout remains in its early innings.” — Alex Harring 5:37 a.m.: UBS upgrades Texas Instruments Texas Instruments investors should see a better performance from the stock this year after a lackluster 2023, according to UBS. UBS raised its rating on Texas Instruments to buy and increased its price target to $195 from $170. The new forecast implies upside of nearly 17% from Thursday’s close. “We believe it should be among the first to see orders inflect higher given less reliance on distribution (i.e. for TXN there is very little lag time between orders and revenue turning higher) and TXN also has cleaner comps and fundamentals as it was one of the few companies not to employ supply agreements during the peak,” wrote analyst Timothy Arcuri. “The stock trades on orders and FCF – both of which look set to inflect positively,” he added. The analyst also raised its revenue forecast for 2024 and 2025. Shares were up nearly 2% after the upgrade. Texas Instruments rose just 3.2% in 2023, lagging the semiconductor sector and the S & P 500. — Fred Imbert